Stephen Stone is a content marketing specialist at Paytronix. With a Bachelors Degree from Fitchburg State University and a Masters in Communication Management from Emerson College, Stephen is well-versed in all things communication.

How do sports impact restaurants — and even the revenue of non-sports-theme restaurants? Here are a few quick statistics: When Lebron James returned to Cleveland and the Cavaliers, the city saw a 30%-200% increase in local restaurant revenue.

His return boosted restaurant revenue all year long, including during winter, Cleveland’s traditional restaurant off-season.

Experts estimate that his return was worth $500 million to the city of Cleveland.

Sports mean big money for the restaurant industry — with or without your city’s own Lebron James.

But it’s likely that if you’re not a sports bar or sports-themed restaurant, you may have viewed sports promotions as outside of your purview. Not only is that a mistake, but it’s a costly one.

The sports industry is worth $73 billion and growing. In a nutshell, there are four ways to take advantage […]

What’s your favorite airline? If you’re like most Americans, a name popped in your head as soon as you read that question. If you can’t name just one, you can probably name two or three that you like.

Also like most Americans, it’s likely that you’re a member of your favorite airline’s rewards program. While rewards programs have a surprisingly long history (the first was launched in the 1800s), airlines have been the steady leaders and innovators in loyalty programs since 1981.

In a time when a lot of people are asking “I just need to get to point A from point B — how cheaply can I do it?” loyalty programs have been crucial to help airlines stand apart from their competitors and generate a legion of followers who choose that airline before any others.

The reasons for airline loyalty success fall into three categories:

Lack of anxiety

Comfort

Creating a journey

Not only does an airline’s loyalty app provide members information about flight options or flight delays, it can even provide detailed information about luggage; Delta now sends out text alerts when members’ luggage has been loaded onto each leg of a flight.

Comfort can certainly be hard to come by on a flight, but many airlines allow loyalty members to earn seats with greater legroom or even earn seats in business or first class.

And, certainly, a flight is a journey in itself, but airline loyalty programs also create a clear, measureable, and compelling journey from one tier of membership to the next.

As you likely already suspect, loyalty programs are very successful for airlines. In fact, some loyalty programs are actually valued at more than the airlines themselves!

So, how can you use these airline innovations for your restaurant?

We’ve put together a free, on-demand webinar called “Look to the Skies: Airline Loyalty Innovations That Will Transform Your Restaurant” to answer that very question.

In the webinar, we dig deeper into just how airlines’ loyalty programs have made them so “sticky” for consumers. Then, we talk about how you can take the most successful elements of these loyalty programs and incorporate them into your own loyalty programs.

When you notice a slowdown at your restaurant — quieter Saturday nights, lower check totals, fewer filled tables – you may think it’s because of your food or service. After all, the reason customers aren’t returning must be one of those two things, doesn’t it?

Well, focusing on just food or service overlooks a crucial third pillar of any successful restaurant: its technology. From the way you construct emails to your mobile app or website, technology plays a big role in how guests perceive your brand. And if you stay ahead of the curve when it comes to implementing new guest engagement technology, you can connect with guests in ways that separates you from the competition.

Unfortunately, some restaurant owners who implemented technology with the best intentions and believe they’re applying best guest engagement are often making critical mistakes. In many cases, the way restaurants use technology to engage with customers is what’s driving those customers away.

Here are five ways your guest engagement technology might be causing more harm than good. […]

There’s an interesting problem that restaurants with loyalty programs face. All of the behavioral data gleaned from these programs means that restaurants can easily identify their best customers: the people who spend the most and visit most frequently. And that’s very useful for creating profitable campaigns.

Running unsegmented promotions can cannibalize profit because your best guests will receive the same promotion as your less frequent customers. Your best guests are going to come in anyway, and discounting purchases they were already going to make can hurt profits.

Whether you’re a Paytronix customer, a restaurateur, a tech guru, a savvy loyalty marketer, or somebody who stumbled upon us by the whims of Google, we promise that you’ll find informative and beneficial content here.

We’ll be using this space to initiate conversation about the things that we love: reward programs, guest engagement, big data, and the restaurant industry.

Reading this blog will keep you informed about all new theories related to acquiring and retaining guests so that you can improve their LTV.